Ancient Country Returns to the Western Regions of Strange Rumors

  Where are they? I clearly saw them come in with me. Did they go inside the house? This thatched cottage has a dark and gloomy courtyard as soon as you enter, with a straight path leading to the inner chamber. The inner chamber is brightly lit, with wooden windows that look very ancient. A layer of rice paper is pasted on the window, and the flickering candlelight can be seen through it. The house is eerily quiet, forming a strong contrast with the deafening storm outside. From time to time, a faint fragrance wafts out from inside, so fragrant that it makes people feel dizzy.

  "Where's Fuma? Lao San? Xiao Lao?" I shouted loudly, my voice echoing in the courtyard, but no one responded. "Karamay? Wu Zihan? Yang Cancan? Where have you all gone?" Still, there was no response.

  Suddenly, a loud "thud" came from behind me, scaring me so much that my whole body shook. I turned around to see that the courtyard gate, which had just swung open, was now closed by itself. I rushed to the entrance and found that where the gate used to be was now a wall. I struck the wall several times with all my might, and it let out a dull, heavy sound.

  A strong sense of fear suddenly arose, before no matter what I encountered there was at least a group of teammates by my side, now I don't know where they went, whether they are in danger. I kept muttering to myself: calm down, calm down! But my whole body couldn't stop trembling, I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down.

  Suddenly, I saw a figure flashing by the window of the house. The figure was moving around inside but didn't make any noise. My curiosity drove me to want to go in and take a look, but at the same time, I felt a little frightened.

  I remembered watching ancient martial arts dramas, where they would use their fingers to poke a hole in the paper window with a bit of saliva, and then they could secretly observe the situation inside. This window was also made of rice paper, so I imitated them and poked a hole in it. As soon as my eyes were pressed against the hole, I took a look inside and was startled to the point where my whole body shook, and I retreated several steps back. Inside, there was also a pair of big eyes covered in bloodshot staring at me, moving around.

  I hastily retreated back to the yard, and the figure in the window disappeared. Now it's a dilemma whether to advance or retreat. Grandma, there must be something fishy going on here, I thought to myself. Conveniently, I pulled out the wine pouch that Karamay had left with me before, took two sips of wine to boost my courage, they're not around now, can only rely on myself, and I'm also a man!

  I took out the pistol that the director of the mother bureau gave me, and it seemed like there were only three bullets left. With the help of the wine, I walked lightly into the thatched cottage. As soon as I stepped inside, a chill ran from my feet to the top of my head, and I shivered. I continued walking in.

  The house is not big, only twenty square meters, and all the decorations in the house can be seen at a glance. There are four candles on the walls of the four sides, and the flickering candlelight looks eerie. In the middle of the house is a black lacquered coffin. I aimed my gun at the coffin, and the shadowy figure from just now was probably its doing.

  I held my breath and slowly moved closer to the coffin, my hand just touching the lid when it suddenly opened by itself. A white mist emerged from inside, and a person stood up straight from the coffin. His skin was dark brown and wrinkled, his facial features had all turned into empty holes except for his eyes, which bulged out like those of a goldfish. The most terrifying thing was that his eyes were completely white, filled with bloodshot veins. I'm absolutely sure it was this pair of eyes that looked at me just now.

  His whole body was wet and dripping, and the fragrance I had smelled earlier had turned into a stench that made me want to vomit. He slowly walked towards me, I took a deep breath and shot him in the forehead, he stumbled back a few steps, the wound on his forehead healed within a minute, I was so scared that my soul left my body, he slowly walked towards me again, I immediately screamed and ran out of the yard as fast as I could.

  As soon as I stepped out of the house, I suddenly felt a wave of dizziness. As soon as I walked into the yard, I started vomiting violently. It must have been the foul smell of the corpse that made me feel sick. I was wondering what to do if the corpse came after me, but there was no movement in the house for a long time. Had the corpse given up?

  I was still wondering when I suddenly heard a voice coming from inside the house, "This deadbeat Zhou Junyang, doesn't know where he's run off to, I could've sworn he was right behind me?"

  I was suddenly delighted, isn't this Yang Cangcang? I just wanted to call out to her, but then I thought about it and realized that something wasn't right. The situation in the room earlier was clear as day - there was only a coffin and no other objects, nor was there a second door. How did they get in? It must be that the corpse was pretending to be Yang Cangcang speaking.

  I retreated to the middle of the courtyard and, I don't know where I got the courage from, shouted loudly at the house: "Corpse brother, can you stop pretending? If you have the ability, come out!"

  The voice in the house stopped, and only Yang Cangcang stood at the door with her hands on her hips, saying: "Master's head, where is Bajie? You ran off somewhere, making us worry to death."

  I burst out laughing: "I say, corpse brother, why did you have to disguise yourself as Yang Cangcang? The beauty trick won't work, I'm not buying it."

  Yang Cangcang frowned and looked at me, then turned back and said: "Zhou Junyang must have been possessed by someone, how can he talk nonsense?"

  Xiao Lao and Fu Ma both stuck their heads out, looked me up and down for a long time, Xiao Lao said: "Doesn't look like you're possessed? Jun Yang little friend, what are you doing standing in the courtyard?"

  I was stunned, could it be that this corpse brother is really like Master Sun Wukong, blowing a single hair can turn into several people? No way, earlier that corpse brother clearly didn't have any hair on his body! Seeing me motionless for half the day, Xiao Lao, Fu Ma and Yang Cangcang all came out, looking at me like I'm an animal.

  He patted my forehead and said: "No fever, nothing seems out of the ordinary, why are you talking nonsense?"

  Yang Cangcang pinched me hard and I let out a loud "ah", "It feels normal too!" she said.

  I realized that this was really my companion, and I suddenly burst into tears. Finally found them, no need to fight alone. Xiao Lao stroked my head, like coaxing a child: "Touch the fur, not afraid, this kid is scared to cry."

  I quickly shook off Xiao Lao's hand and asked, "Where did you go? When I came in, there was only me in this courtyard. There is also a corpse covered in blood in that house."

  "I was just about to ask you too. I turned around and you were gone, we looked for you inside and out three times." Yang Cangcang said with a complaining tone.

  "It seems it's not Jun Yang's fault. This house is quite strange, maybe it's intentional to separate us." Fu Ma analyzed.

  Xiao Lao looked at me with a puzzled expression and asked: "You said you saw a corpse covered in blood in the room? Was it a ghostly corpse?"

  "What corpse? That house is full of paintings!" Yang Cangcang said in surprise.

  "It's not just the corpse, even the gate of the yard has disappeared..." I turned my head to take a look, and in an instant, I was shocked and lost color. The gate of the yard reappeared before me.

  "You must be seeing things." Fu Ma said with certainty.

  "What about them?"

  "Go inside and take a look at the painting on the wall." Just as Yang Cangcang was saying this, he suddenly swayed dizzily as if he couldn't stand still, Xiao Lao and Fu Ma started vomiting, and Yang Cangcang directly fainted into my arms.

  I rushed into the house and shouted loudly: "Wu Zihan, Kelamayi, Old Three, you guys come out quickly to see what's going on with them?" After half a day, there was no response from inside the house. The figure appeared again in the window, I turned my head and saw that the gate of the courtyard had disappeared again.

  I quickly pinched Yang Cangcang's Renzhong, and I don't know if this trick is useful for the Xuan clan. Xiao Lao and Fu Ma vomited for a while, feeling much better. They saw the scene and felt that it was indeed strange. Yang Cangcang also slowly opened her eyes.

  "Mr. Xiao, do you know what's going on? I just came out and vomited a lot too, can you smell the stench of death?" I asked Mr. Xiao in confusion.

  "Laoxu is also really puzzled, what corpse smell, Laoxu didn't smell it at all? Just feel dizzy and weak all over the body." Xiao Lao said somewhat weakly.

  "Right, right, I have the same feeling, are we poisoned? Is it the Ten Fragrance Soft Muscle Powder?" I guessed. Yang Cangcang slowly got up, her face was pale and looked worn out.

  "Do you see the black shadow on that window? That's Corpse Brother, Xiao Lao said it was a yin corpse." I said, pointing at the window.

  Fu Ma looked at the small hole on the window paper and said, "Jun Yang, is that your doing?" I nodded, "This is no longer the same house as before. The previous house had intact windows, I checked them when I went in." Fu Ma said with conviction.

  "You mean...?" Old Xiao wiped the virtual sweat from his forehead, "This thatched cottage is changing?"

  "Yes"

  Yang Cangcang seemed to have thought of something and said, "My ancestors said that there is a kind of formation like the human elevator, two houses will swap with each other without us noticing, could it be this one?"

  "But we just entered different rooms, why do we have the same symptoms?" I asked. The three of them shook their heads, unable to understand what was going on. "Do you want to go in and take a look at that corpse?"

  Xiao Lao stood up and said: "We should go take a look, maybe the key to unlocking the elevator's mystery lies on this dead body."

  The four of us quietly walked into the house, and I whispered to Xiao Lao: "How can we break the yin corpse?"

  Xiao Lao made a "shh" gesture, and suddenly a voice came from inside the house, "Are you four playing hide-and-seek?" Old Three shouted loudly, startling us four.

  "How long have you guys been gone? Where did Jun Yang go just now?" Karamay scolded, Wu Zihan glanced at us lightly and didn't say a word.

  "It's alright, I'm back." Yang Cangcang said weakly. Lao San rushed over to support her and kept asking us what was going on.

  I carefully examined the room, which was roughly the same size as before. However, the walls of this room were carved with portraits of people, vivid and lifelike, just like photographs. There were people from all eras, leaving me bewildered. Why carve so many portraits? And what did these people have to do with the ancient country of Dài Yuè?

  Lao San suddenly looked at a corner of the wall and shouted in shock: "Second Brother, Xiao Lao, Can Can, Fu Ma, when did your portraits appear on the wall? This was clearly blank just now!"